Electronic equipment, including communication and computer networks, relies on patch or interconnect cables to interconnect components and devices to one another. In order to facilitate troubleshooting and the reconfiguration of signal paths, it is important to carefully manage patch panels. This requires having a clear understanding of the actual interconnections that have been made, and being able to accurately identify patch cables to allow accurate interconnections and trouble shooting. In networks having a large number of interconnected components and devices, keeping track of and managing the various interconnections can become a significant problem.
One of the most common tasks in patch panel maintenance is identifying existing connections on the panel. In order to keep track of the various interconnections, paper-based documentation may be kept for the panel. With complex systems, the documentation for a patch panel can comprise a large record book in which the various connections are manually recorded. Because paper-based documentation requires the manual entry in the record book of the interconnections, the information contained in the record book often contains errors. In addition, verifying existing connections, reconfiguring connections, and/or making new connections when using paper-based documentation remains a time-consuming and error prone task. In addition, paper-based documentation is of little help when a technician needs to locate the end of a cable that has become disconnected from the patch panel, or in identifying a particular cable when a number of interconnections need to be made.
Whether or not paper-based documentation is used to record interconnections on or with a patch panel, hand tracing can be used to locate the ends of a cable. However, hand tracing can be difficult or even impossible where the patch panel has a large number of interconnected cables.
In order to facilitate the tracing of cables, wire tracing kits are available. Such kits allow the end of a cable to be positively identified by imposing a signal at the opposite end of the cable. Although such systems allow a technician to positively identify the ends of a particular cable, they do not assist in locating those ends in the first place. That is, existing wire tracing kits provide confirmation with respect to the identity of a cable, but do not assist in actually locating the end of the cable.
Electronic systems for monitoring and recording existing connections on a patch cable have also been developed. However, such systems require specialized patch panels that monitor connections at the panel, displays on the patch panel racks, and LEDs on the patch panel ports, as well as software for administering the patch panel connections. Furthermore, such systems cannot assist a technician in locating an end of a cable that has become disconnected from its port, or that is connected to a port other than the port recorded in the database as being the termination point for the cable. In addition, such systems are relatively expensive, and require that network administrators deploy and manage additional, complex tools.